Certified copy of utility bill

[anonymous-user]

Hi everyone. Yesterday I had to go to the Bank to get Passport & Utility bill copied and certified. To my amazement they wouldn't/couldn't certify my utility bill ( the original that arrived by post ) as 'they hadn't produced it' but did my passport no problem. I explained that I had had no problem in the past so why now, because it's our rules! I then asked how could I possibly do anymore as it was the original that drops through my letter box. . . the answer is get the utility company to post you a certified copy out yet their employees may not be on the list of approved people who can countersign. Upon leaving with a copy of my passport I now question they didn't produce my passport so how can they sign that?

[anonymous-user]

You're lucky they certified anything. Some banks have even stopped certifying their own statements. They will print them in branch, but that's it.

[Sarnie]

mgsontour said:

Hi everyone. Yesterday I had to go to the Bank to get Passport & Utility bill copied and certified. To my amazement they wouldn't/couldn't certify my utility bill ( the original that arrived by post ) as 'they hadn't produced it' but did my passport no problem. I explained that I had had no problem in the past so why now, because it's our rules! I then asked how could I possibly do anymore as it was the original that drops through my letter box. . . the answer is get the utility company to post you a certified copy out yet their employees may not be on the list of approved people who can countersign. Upon leaving with a copy of my passport I now question they didn't produce my passport so how can they sign that?

Just get someone else to certify it?

[anonymous-user]

Why would you need a certified copy of a utility bill? The normal thing would be to make a copy for your file and send the original to whoever needs to see it. Once the organisation asking for proof of ID has seen originals or certified copies your documents are returned to you.

With so much utility billing now done online it is understandably difficult for the certifier to know whether a bill is genuine or has been tampered with and run of somebody's home printer.

I would be reluctant to send anyone my passport or driving licence (proof of "identity") through the post but the other documents (proof of "address") seem pretty trivial.

[JulianPH]

I agree, can't you send them the original rather than a certified copy?

If not feel free to post them to me and I'll do it for you.

[anonymous-user]

JulianPH said:

I agree, can't you send them the original rather than a certified copy?

If not feel free to post them to me and I'll do it for you.

That's what I've done, lets wait and see if accepted

[JulianPH]

mgsontour said:

JulianPH said:

I agree, can't you send them the original rather than a certified copy?

If not feel free to post them to me and I'll do it for you.

That's what I've done, lets wait and see if accepted

Great, I can't see why it wouldn't be accepted.

Any problems just give me a shout and I'll certify it for you.

[silentbrown]

Thread resurrection : Just having to go through this proof of ID annoyance again, after we've moved house.

They're requesting for "original utility bill" and certified copy of drivers license.

All our utility bills are electronic: Surely the original PDF should be more tamper-resistant than a piece of paper? It's not like a printed utility bill will be on high-security watermarked paper or anything.

I'm sorely tempted to forge the 'certification' of my driving license. Are they actually going to check with the certifier? As it's got to be sent overseas, I really don't want to be sending the original.

[Mars]

This was a bloody pain when I was buying my house a year ago. In the end I found a notary (nice lady) who certified 3 or 4 of my documents for £20.

I felt it was like a cartel - my solicitor (who I paid a fortune to regardless) making me pay more money to another in the legal profession.

[alscar]

Local Postmaster will be happy to certify a copy of whatever you want -at least ours will.
Have also got either Financial Advisor or a mate that works in Financial Services to certify something in the past.

[silentbrown]

alscar said:

Local Postmaster will be happy to certify a copy of whatever you want -at least ours will.

Have wasted time and money with PO document certification in the past. They will only put 'their' wording on, an illegible signature and a little PO rubber stamp.

Our accountant will usually do it as a favour, but that's a couple of hours round trip.

[Deesee]

Mars said:

This was a bloody pain when I was buying my house a year ago. In the end I found a notary (nice lady) who certified 3 or 4 of my documents for £20.

I felt it was like a cartel - my solicitor (who I paid a fortune to regardless) making me pay more money to another in the legal profession.

Lol, I do all mine FOC..

[loskie]

silentbrown said:

Thread resurrection : Just having to go through this proof of ID annoyance again, after we've moved house.

They're requesting for "original utility bill" and certified copy of drivers license.

All our utility bills are electronic: Surely the original PDF should be more tamper-resistant than a piece of paper? It's not like a printed utility bill will be on high-security watermarked paper or anything.

I'm sorely tempted to forge the 'certification' of my driving license. Are they actually going to check with the certifier? As it's got to be sent overseas, I really don't want to be sending the original.

I have Power Of Attorney for my 95 yr old aunt. It's a bloody nightmare dealing with anyone and customer service in the UK is at ROCK BOTTOM . DWP 20 mins odd on hold to have the call answered and immediately hung up. Probably spent 3 hrs over 2 days speaking to someone and that's just a small part, Scotland POAs are not available using an access code. Some financial institutions allow docs (certified) to be uploaded but that's a very small percent. I took 2 weeks of work. 1 to deal with aunt Ms stuff one week for me. Nah forget about it. It's like having a second job.
Solicitor has certified my docs. Got a bunch done at once.

Lucky to have a decent local solicitor and hopefully accountant.

[silentbrown]

silentbrown said:

I'm sorely tempted to forge the 'certification' of my driving license.

I've just realised that by giving them my DL number they can 'view' it online, as they already have my NI number and DOB.

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

I expect this suggestion will get a "computer says nah" response, but it's utterly barking that we're still shuffling bits of physical paper around the world for sh*t like this.